Community Health Network Foundation is the not-for-profit philanthropic organization of Community Health Network, a non-profit health system with more than 100 sites of care and affiliates throughout central Indiana. Our mission is to raise financial support for the Network to improve the health of the communities we serve.

Funds raised by our donors contribute to the benefit of connected, convenient, coordinated care. Those donor contributions allow us to support healthcare scholarships, clinical research, community development, school-based clinics and the delivery of innovative healthcare through technology and state-of-the-art facilities.

We are the steward of Community Health Network’s culture of philanthropy that began in 1951 when a group of east side Indianapolis residents decided to build a hospital based on community principles and with community dollars. They embarked on what the East Side Herald called “the swiftest, most effective fundraiser of our time,” collecting nickels, dimes and other donations from donors believing in a worthy cause. Those values and that same spirit of fundraising are alive today, in our name and in our work.

A MESSAGE FROM OUR PRESIDENT

Few things in life bring greater satisfaction than working in the field of your commitment and passion. That describes my life at Community. This is my dream job—combining my 25 years in healthcare with my love for our Indianapolis community.

Even more, I serve the Network’s Foundation out of gratitude. As a child I suffered with cerebral meningitis and was not expected to live. My family was given a generous hand of care from a foundation that made a difference in our decision-making process and helped save my life. People who didn’t even know me reached out and gave money to a foundation that changed my family’s future.

When you give to the Foundation, you impact more than a person’s immediate need—you impact the future. Our mission is to raise and steward financial support to strengthen and guide the health and well-being of every person who comes to us for help—especially at a time when many feel desperate and don’t know where to turn.

Be encouraged by how your support of Community’s mission humbly impacts people’s lives every day. Read just a few of their stories in this 2012 Impact Report. Thank you for all you’ve done in 2012. We rely on your continued financial support and passionate partnership with us again this year.

Dr. McGarvey celebrates a lifetime of service by giving back to Community

When you hear about doctors, you think “the people who care for us.” But who cares for the doctors?
At Community Health Network, we make “doctor care” a top priority. In this highly competitive medical world, we know the importance of protecting and caring for our medical staff. We know they need a safe, thoughtful, responsive environment to best perform the critical and sensitive work of caring for our patients.

That’s why the Foundation works hard to provide the needed funds to attract, retain, and provide for the medical personnel and the programs that will ensure their longevity and excellent service. We want the best doctors to settle down here at Community and be the foundation for multiple generations of care.

From his first day in 1974, Dr. Bill McGarvey, one of Community East’s first ENT specialists, knew this was the place he wanted to stay for his career.

“Community is undoubtedly one of the best run hospitals that I’ve seen in my career.

“Our primary mission has always been service. The priority of patient care has bonded the medical staff and the administration. If a doctor has an issue regarding a patient’s treatment, we knew we could appeal to the highest levels of administration and our recommendations would be heard.”

Now retired, Dr. McGarvey gives back to the hospital by donating to the Community Health Network Foundation. “Several members of my family have received superb care at Community. This wonderful institution has also enabled me to live out my dream of being a doctor and surgeon. I owe Community a debt of gratitude that I gladly return from the heart.”

Donors like Dr. McGarvey understand firsthand how Community Health Network Foundation makes a difference in retaining the best doctors for a lifetime of service.

For more than 50 years, the invisible thread connecting generations of families in central Indiana has been the compassionate care they’ve received from Community Health Network.

Ask the grandmother in the maternity waiting room about Community, and you’ll hear stories about when she delivered her daughter here, who today is becoming a mother for the first time.

Generations. That’s who we’re serving today at Community, thanks to the investment families like you have made in the Foundation. We see one generation after another drawn here by some of life’s most impactful moments.

Community Health Network obstetrician Dr. Tom Ferrara has been a witness to thousands of these life events in the 42 years he has served families. He has literally delivered thousands of our community’s babies into their family’s waiting arms.

IMPACT:

Through Our Commitment to Our Community

Helping Little Ones Grieve

Oftentimes, the best way to serve our patients is to serve their children after a medical crisis is over. Because we recognized the need to help children grieve the loss of family members, Community Health Network Foundation and Community Home Health Services sought out $100,000 in funding through a New York Life Foundation Grief Reach grant that today provides instruction, counseling and support for all grade levels in the Lawrence Township schools.

A Special Camp Experience

At Community, we know that healing comes in unexpected ways—especially for children. The unique mission of Camp Erin Indianapolis, is to provide children who are in a season of profound distress with a weekend-long camping experience, filled with traditional, fun activities combined with grief education and emotional support. Through the generous support of compassionate Community donors, kids are allowed to be kids—and they are allowed to heal as kids do best. In 2012, Community Health Network Foundation gave $25,441 to provide for children, ages 5-18, to attend Camp Erin.

Getting in Shape

What if you had a life-threatening disease and you didn’t know it?
And what if you could reverse the direction of that disease if someone just told you how?

The InShape Health Fair is just one of the Patient-First services that Community Health Network Foundation provided for more than 2,000 people last year at the Indiana Convention Center. With the volunteer help of Community physicians and medical professionals, the Foundation funded nearly $23,000 worth of health care, provided by donations from our concerned and compassionate community.

Judy Cornett, the quality improvement manager for Pro Health Network, has volunteered at the health fair every year for almost a decade. “The health fair saves people’s lives. We help our friends and neighbors get the care that they might not otherwise seek . . . especially those who have blood pressure issues and don’t know it. We put knowledge in their hands and provide them treatment so they don’t have to stay in that bad place.

“I love the Network,” Judy smiles, “Especially our mission that is so deeply committed to the community we serve. Nine years ago when we started doing the health fair, people would ask, ‘What is Community?’ But we’ve gotten the word out. People know us now and know we’re here to help.”

“It feels great to work with the Network Foundation and know that together we can care more.”

“An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.”

–Ben Franklin

The maternity ward in any hospital is one of the happiest places in town.

. . . Except when an unexpected crisis occurs in labor and delivery and lives are cut short.

At Community Health Network, we anticipate those crisis moments and work hard to be prepared with life-saving resources, training and personnel—in the exact moment it is needed. Through the support of Community Health Network Foundation, we fight for the lives of our families.

Dr. Cady Linn (Obstetrics and Gynecology) explains, “In a Community delivery room, when we encounter a true emergency for the baby or the mom, we are ready for it. We have a stocked blood bank—since most life-threatening maternal emergencies are related to blood loss. We have a great nursing staff and internist program to effectively treat special situations. Any special help must be available immediately. Fifteen minutes from now is too late.”

In 2012, Andrea and Jason Houston were expecting twins (thanks to help from Community’s Assisted Fertility Services). When Andrea’s water broke prematurely, there was a lot of quick thinking but no complications in the babies’ safe delivery. However, when Dr. Linn was finalizing the C-section, the situation turned into a crisis in a flash. Andrea’s uterus would not contract, and she was hemorrhaging.

In a matter of seconds, Andrea lost four times the normal amount of blood and in minutes, her entire blood volume. But because Community has had the financial support of our friends and neighbors, the delivery room was prepared to fight for Andrea’s life.

“On so many levels, everyone in that delivery room that day was a champion,” says Dr. Linn. “The anesthesiologist, the intensive care staff, the radiologist, nurses and surgeons. This is a classic example of how great minds work together—quickly, decisively and with great expertise.

“But I feel strongly that apart from Community’s long-term commitment to being equipped and prepared and the generous support of our community, this family’s story would have ended differently.”

A community celebrates the birth of every baby, the addition to every family. At Community, we show our family pride by channeling our community’s financial generosity given to the Network Foundation into life-saving care.

New daddy, Jason Houston adds, “Members of our community who gave so generously in the past helped save my wife’s life that day. That compels Andrea and me to support the Network Foundation going forward for the sake of the people who will need help in days to come. Community was there for us. And we’re so very grateful.”

IMPACT:

Through OurHospital Programs

Read Me a Story

The bond between parents and their newborn baby is strong—especially when a child needs to be in the special care of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

Chris and Maggie Hist remember how special it was to read to their newborn son, Aidan, during his 8-day stay in Community Hospital North’s NICU. In Aidan’s honor, they created Aidan’s Book Corner to help other families bond with their newborns in the same way that meant so much to them.

“Good Night Moon was our book,” Maggie shares. “I began reading it to Aidan when I was 19 weeks pregnant. It was just natural that I continued reading it to him every night during his stay in the NICU. Chris and I were so glad to do such a normal parent thing as reading to our baby, even in a not-normal situation.”

Aidan’s Book Corner provides a brand-new book to every family in the NICU. “Every parent gets to choose their own book,” says Susan Meskis, RN in Maternity Services at Community, smiling. “And they put in as much energy picking out that perfect book as they will in picking that child’s college! It’s a special connection that they can have with their child. What Maggie and Chris Hist have provided is more than a book—it’s unspoken support. And it’s a memory forever cherished on the family’s bookshelf.”

Maggie and Chris are supporting other NICU families with this tangible gift. They say, “We want parents to know they’re not alone in this scary NICU time. ... And we wanted to help them make every precious moment count with their new child.”

Hands-On Learning Prepares Excellent Medical Assistants

Better and faster. The results of Community’s new Medical Assistant fellowship are clear. More highly qualified students are trained at a higher level. And more patient-focused professionals are able to serve as physician extenders more quickly. This winning combination translates into more efficient, higher-quality care for our patients.

This advanced clinical training fellowship for local medical assistant students is made possible through a federal grant called “Employ Indy” that was was initiated by and awarded to Community Health Network Foundation.

This 8-10 week fellowship directly benefits local medical assistant students who have completed their classroom hours and are enthusiastically ready to put their learning to work by getting hands-on training in the real world.

An aggressive leap out of the classroom provides medical assistant students an extra 300 hours of extensive training in every major hospital service area. Students are supervised as they serve doctors and patients in physician offices, urgent care and other ambulatory care settings. They quickly develop valuable, practical experiences that give them an academic and clinical edge in the marketplace.

It’s a win for Community, too, since MA Fellowship graduates are the first to be hired here. Denise Gwaltney, a CPN Practice Administrator at Community-Saxony says, “Training Fellowship MA students as externs in our offices is a great opportunity. We have the chance to make an important impact on their new career and we impart Community’s Patient’s First philosophy early in their experience. The extra training takes us all an extra mile! It makes a difference!”

“They match the way we want
to give—very focused on the
quality of care delivered to patients
and the kind treatment

of all employees”

—David and Susan Holbrook-Preston

Thank you to the many generous donors in 2012 who made patient-first care possible at Community Health Network by donating 1.7 million dollars. Because of your compassionate support of the Foundation, our community was served in the following ways:

These gifts helped us to:

• Sustain programs that allow us to care for our patients at every stage of illness

• Fund scholarships for healthcare students

• Support Community employees through continuing education and financial assistance for those in need

Community Health Network Foundation is grateful for the support of families, friends, and neighbors who made a gifts between January 1, 2012 and December 31, 2012. We honor those whose names are listed below as generous partners in our mission of care and compassion and honor their commitment to our community.

I have a lot to be grateful for at Community—the decision to give back to the Network with a financial gift to the Foundation is an easy one for me! I’ve had 27 fulfilling years of working at Community, often directly with the Foundation staff. I like the idea of giving back to the Network by supporting the Foundation.

I see my gift to the Foundation as my opportunity to continue making an impact.

Generosity born out of compassion is not a one-time event. It is a lifestyle of kindness drawn from humble gratitude. Our thanks goes to donors like you who give back to patient care year after year. Over the past 35 years, our consecutive year donors have donated just over 2.4 million dollars. Because of quiet, faithful, passionate support, the Network has been equipped and ready to serve everyone who comes to us for help. Our donors help save lives and give strength to our community.